On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 18:19:32 -0500, madgardener wrote:


"C" wrote in message
news
A friend bought too many tulip, daffodil, hyacinth, etc, bulbs last fall
and never got them planted. They have been stored in the basement and are
beginning to sprout.

Solution?

Can we plant them in potting soil and expect them to bloom this spring?

Yes, plant them about 4-5 inches in the pots of potting soil and put the
pots outside in a sunny spot to finish up the winter. You can even put mulch
around the pots and on top if you want to. The emerging shoots will be fine.

If we let the plants do their thing, can we dig them up and relocate them
to the garden and expect then to give us many more years of growth and
beauty?

The tulips will bloom again next year if you give them a little bulb food
and when you plant them in the ground, mix in some small pea gravel. Good
drainage is important for tulips. You didn't say where you are, but here in
the southeast, not all tulips return after the third year. But with the huge
variety of bulbs available now, a lot of them do. Once they bloom in the
pots, clip off the blossoms, leave the leaves alone, and plug the soil and
bulbs and all into places in your garden, planting them two inches deeper in
the ground than in the pots. Next year they will return at the proper time.
Come fall, sprinkle a little bulb food where you have them planted and it
will feed them and ready them for next spring.

This is not exactly like forcing bulbs. There must be a way to salvage
them before considering the composter.

Do the above, you'll have neat flowers to enjoy, and once you plant them,
let them do their cycle where they die back by summer and you'll be
pleasantly surprised when they pop back up next spring at the right time.
Mark the spot so you'll know where they are come fall when you give them
granulated bulb food, though. It helps.

madgardener whose done that very thing with her extra bulbs and is what I'm
doing with the extra's I planted in those three window boxes a few weeks
ago. I can't wait'! and after they're done, I will have these 36 inch
plugs of all sorts of bulbs to tuck into spots g

Thanks.

Thank you for suggestions.

By the way, I'm in the land of ice and snow, the land of cheeseheads, the
land of the Pack: Wisconsin!